Title: Dream Marine
Author: MSHDV, MSHDV@aol.com
Summary: Harm sees more of Mac. But is it too much?
Disclaimer: JAG characters portrayed belong to JAG, CBS and Paramount Television. No copyright infringement intended. All other characters depicted are purely fictional and any similarities to actual people are purely coincidental.

WARNING: This story is rated NC-17. If that sort of thing bothers you, reading further is a bad idea.


Dream Marine


NORTH OF CORPUS CHRISTI NAVAL AIR STATION
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
0230HRS (EST)


It had been a long two weeks. What Harmon Rabb had hoped would bring him and his partner closer together back to where they had been before he left, before they went to Australia, before Brumby put that damn ring on her finger, ended up straining an already tense and impossible situation. Straining a relationship that was possibly going way beyond a partnership. Way beyond friendship, a relationship that was being precipitated by the strongest physical attraction he had ever felt for a woman. A physical attraction that was trying to drive him to forget she was his partner, forget she was in the same chain of command, forget that he couldn't let go. Why hadn't she just left things as they were? Why did she have to bring things to the surface he wasn't ready to face!

Harm nodded distractedly at the young waitress who refilled their coffee cups, a smile creeping across his handsome features and just watched Colonel Sarah Mackenzie finish the last bite of her quarter pound cheeseburger, as she sucked on her last fry. Damn lucky fry he thought to himself! Damn lucky! He watched her closely as she sucked the fry into her sensual mouth and sat back with the most content smile on her face. Oh god, he groaned inwardly. How he was having sexual food fetishes.

So far this had been one hell of an assignment, but he had to admit to himself it was the first one in a long time that had kept his full attention. Was it the assignment or her part in it that had held his attention? Glad to be out of the courtroom, glad to be out on a field investigation, glad to be alone with her without any distractions. Without any distractions, except for her of course.

"What? You know Rabb I refuse to spend my life worrying about what I eat. That is not a pleasure worth forgoing just for an extra five years in a geriatric ward. Anyway, are you a vegetarian because you love animals or hate plants?"

"Neither. I just never eat anything whose listed ingredients cover more than two-thirds of the package. Besides you know if you keep eating like that Colonel, you'll probably have to find a new career. You'll never be able to wear an outfit like...uh...well...that and look quite as...as...good."

"Oh? So you think I look good Flyboy? Just how good?" Mac suddenly noting his apparent discomfort couldn't resist the opportunity to tease him unmercifully. She opened her raincoat, letting it slip slowly and seductively from her shoulders and leaned forward on the table. Seeing his discomfort and his eyes darken, she proceeded to run her foot sensually and slowing up to his thigh resting it against his crouch under the table.

She watched Harm's sharp intake of breath as he choked on his coffee, hurriedly ask for the check and stood looking around the near empty trashy all night diner like it was Westminster Abbey. Like the hand of God was going to come through the heavens and rack havoc on the sinners below. "Cute Marine. Let's get the hell out of here."

When they left the diner he adjusted her raincoat securely and guided her to their vehicle. Mac couldn't stand it any longer as she burst out laughing at his reaction of prudish indignation. "Why Sailor, you didn't answer me. How good do you think I look? Tell me. How good?" She purred seductively amazed at the tone in her own voice.

While they walked in the cool Texas moonlight with the smell of the ocean carried by the slight breeze, Mac tried to suppress her giggles and gain some composure. "I'm sorry Harm I just couldn't resist watching you squirm. Consider it pay-back."

"Pay-back for what? I didn't make you take this damn assignment! And I wasn't squirming, Marine. Whatever the hell that means!" His mind remembered the fry sucked deep in her warm mouth. Mental images of what it would be like to have his hard sex slip into her wet wanting mouth was driving him crazy.

"Pay-back for this!" Mac undid the raincoat so that this time, he could get a full view. A full view of the skimpy bra like iridescent black halter-top that barely held her large breasts confined and accentuated her hard erect nipples. Peaks that were waiting for him to further stimulated them with his lips. The skimpy matching skirt that hung just below her waist, hugging her hips and barely making it to the top of her thigh. Barely covering the wetness he would find there with his probing tongue. And her legs, the legs that seemed to go on endlessly in the black stockings complemented by the 4-inch stiletto heals. Legs that would wrap around him hungrily, clenching him tightly as he entered her. "Mac. Stop it!" The heat and ache growing in his groin made him quickly look away as he stopped the inaudible groan of arousal that grew in his throat. Two weeks of her in that outfit had worn his resistance thin. Real thin! God only knew he had a problem tearing his eyes from her body day and night since this damn assignment started. It was like they were at Manley on that damn beach, only this time there was very little left to the imagination. He had always found her beautiful, desirable and even sexy in her Marine Greens, but this was more than even his propriety could handle. All he envisioned was this behemoth of an eraser being driven fervently by the devil within him eliminating the invisible line that had always been ceremoniously placed between them. The line he was still not willing to cross though he had almost tripped over it a couple of times.

Like a petulant child Mac slid into the passenger side as Harm held her door open for her, still avoiding the slightest glance in her direction. He slammed the door and walked around to the driver's side and got in just in time for Mac to continue to vent her frustrations. Dark memories so long hidden being swirled to the surface of Mac's consciousness because of this damn assignment.

"I'm sorry Harm, but it just seems that you can spend day and night gawking at all the...the...us with your male hormones in overload and your tongue hanging out, while I have to parade around in this." Again she opened her coat and again he wouldn't look at her as he peeled out of the parking lot trying to fixate on the expanse of dark highway in front of him.

"First of all I don't gawk, second of all my tongue wasn't hanging out and thirdly I don't think I've been anything but a perfect gentlemen." What the hell was wrong with her? Why was she so consumed by what she was doing? It was only a damn undercover assignment! Why was she driving him crazy!

"Ha! Is that why Cindy wanted to know who the "incredible" Sailor was that was undressing her with his piercing green eyes! And besides the men that hang at the "Flight Deck" I wouldn't call perfect gentlemen."

"Incredible, huh? And which one exactly was Cindy?"

"Not funny Rabb! I have been grabbed and pinched in places I didn't even know I had! I'm surprised I can even sit down!" Mac shifted uncomfortably as she tucked her legs under her, leaned on her hip facing Harm and rested her head on her hand along the back of the seat. "Look Mac, you didn't have to take this assignment. I'm sure Carolyn would have been willing. She's got one sensational body and probably has fewer inhibitions than you do."

"Oh does she?"

"Well yea...she...well...not...you."

"Rabb shut-up before you dig yourself deeper and insert both feet in your mouth! If that is even possible! Just drive! I'm tired, annoyed and pissed beyond belief! We better flush out this killer soon or I'll blow this assignment and deck the next hormone driven Marine or "Sailor" that cops a feel!"

Mac willed herself to relax...she didn't truly understand which was worse...dressed like some two bit hooker or the fact that she couldn't get the reaction out of her partner she wanted. His hormones were in over drive when he was with Renee, when he looked at the other dancers and even some of the waitresses, but with her it was business as usual. No joy Marine. No joy.

The movement of the car lulled Mac into sleep, as she tried to dream about the only man who appeared to really desire her and the answer she would give him when she got back. She had had enough with the always stoic, always perfectly composed Harmon Rabb! Enough was enough. She had bared her soul to him on that ferry in Australia and it appeared he could care less if she ever bared anything else for him. But as quickly as her dream reached for her Aussie Commander, there was Harm replacing the Australian. She signed resolutely as her dreams became explicit sexual fantasies.


Harm heard Mac's even breathing and realized that she had fallen asleep. Stealing a discrete glance at her, he audibly groaned imagining what it would be like to have this incredible woman pleasure him. What it would be like to watch her slowly and sensually strip for him, while he admired all that would be his. What she would feel like naked in his arms. And oh what he could then do to her as he let go. What they could so to each other. Was it infatuation, love or lust that he felt for her? Definitely lust, but love? Hell did he even know how to love any woman, let alone a woman like Mac? His past track record proved that he certainly had the ability to please a woman but have a lasting relationship? At the point of commitment he went running like a scared jackrabbit. The case Rabb! Focus on the case!

He forced his eyes away from her and concentrated his energies on their assignment. Three women, brutally beaten, raped, stabbed and left dead ceremoniously on the base. Nothing in common...one a nurse on the base, one a bartender at the "Flight Deck" and one a dancer at the "Flight Deck." The only commonality between two out of the three victims was the sleazy off base erotic dance club, so that is where they had started. Mac going in undercover as a waitress and he going in undercover as...a hormone driven male. The thought made him flinch as the car swerved slightly. Why the hell was she always right!

The abrupt movement of the car caused Mac to slip further towards him, as she stretched her legs out from under her and her arm came to rest on his leg, her fingers curving sensuously and gently inside his upper thigh. As he heard the sensual sign escape her lips, he tensed so rigidly that he thought he was going to crack into a million pieces. Harm tried desperately to separate the upper part of his body from the lower half and focus on the road that was starting to blur in front of him. Breathe Rabb! Move her damn hand! If you don't stop her, you're a dead man if she remembers any of this!

Instead of listening to the right 'head' his body continued to rapidly react to her heated touch. He felt her move her hand further until her palm rested on his hardened sex stimulating his erection with slow and oh so deliberate strokes. A groan of sheer pleasure escaped them simultaneously as she increased the pressure and he arched into her hand. "Oh God...Mac." He groaned through his clouded desire, the ache for release grew heatedly against her continued pressure filled stokes.

Harmon Rabb was reaching the breaking point faster than he thought possible. His only thoughts were of pulling to the side of the road, waking her up and hoping she would complete consciously what she started unconsciously! He slowed to a crawl just as the crass neon sign of the "Flight Deck" knocked him back to reality like a blast of cold air.

Quickly he turned into the lot and parked by the sleazy back bungalows reserved for the "girls" that worked the club. He got out of the car quickly and just stood silently in the dark, regulating his breathing and bringing his arousal under control. She was going to kill him!

"What the hell are you doing?" Mac stumbled from the car and looked through sleep-laden eyes at her partner over the roof of the car.

"Nothing why? What do you mean what did I do...I mean what am I doing. Getting some air. Come on lets get you inside its late." Keep it together Sailor, he thought as he took her keys and led her to the small corner bungalow.

"Other than you standing around looking like you got caught with your hand in the...Oh never mind." Mac shuddered as she felt her own arousal pool around her inner thighs in the cool night air. "You know I had the most incredible dream...it was so real. It was like..."

"Dream." Harm froze. Oh, shit here it comes. She was going to kill him!

"Oh hell forget it...it was just a dream! This place is hormone heaven and it's even got me...Just forget it!" He watched as she stomped off, stopping to wait for him on the porch of the less than inviting cottage.

Mac turned to take her keys from Harm's hand, when she caught Buck Jamisson exiting the "Flight Deck" with his latest bimbo on his arm. He looked in Sarah's direction with a leer of understanding and acknowledgment on his face.

Harm opened the door of the one room bungalow as he felt Mac come suddenly towards him moving her arms around his neck. Paralyzed he stared at her questioning what the hell had come over her and questioning himself why it felt so damn good.

"Busted flyboy. Just follow my lead. Jamisson is watching." Mac whispered the words firming pulling him teasingly down to her with both the pressure of her body and the force of her arms.

"Mac."

"Just play along...pretend I'm your damn video princess if that makes this any easier." Mac's voice was still just a whisper, as she firmly pushed her body into his and pulled his mouth to hers, the sheer force of her lips firmly parted beneath his causing Harm to pull back slightly.

"...and who an I Mac, Bugle?" It was a whispered question that Harm didn't want to hear the answer to, but when he did he saw red.

"...whatever." As Sarah Mackenzie felt his arms wrap around her in a crushing embrace, felt his lips come down on hers hard, felt his tongue hot and probing tease her into parting her lips further, she gratefully and hungrily allowed him entry. The only question in her mind was...Brumby who?

Mac felt Harm move her backward into the darkened bungalow as she lost her footing on the frayed carpet falling to the bed still firmly in Harm's crushing embrace. She felt him press her urgently against the mattress, felt the pressure of his mouth against hers increase and his hand start caressing the length of her sending sharp jolts of electricity through her each time his hand made contact with her bare hot skin. This was getting way out of hand as she felt his already hard erection, pressing urgently against her and her moving towards it demandingly.

The sound of tires spitting gravel into the night as it sped out of the parking lot caused them both to break the kiss and move away from each other slightly. Both were dazed at what had happened and both noted the effect that their illusion had inflicted on their bodies. Harm didn't want to let go of her and Mac didn't want him to, so they just lay there staring at each other both trying to comprehend what had almost happened between them.

Mac's fear of doing something stupid like on that damn ferry and because of their surroundings caused her to move away from his warmth. "OK let me up...They are gone." It took her a moment to level her breathing and catch her breath, but she was damned if she would let him see her obvious arousal. Damn you Rabb! You should have brought your fur ball with you...at least the change of wardrobe would have been an improvement for her! Her clothes should definitely have expiration dates on them!

Harm rolled on his stomach fists clenched trying to focus on Mac as she made her way to the bathroom, moving away from him quickly! Brumby, my ass! Not in this lifetime Marine! Brumby...Renee, why was there always someone between them. Hell, what am I thinking...there is nobody really between us, because there is really no us. This mind told him there could have been and his body told him there should have been. Damn it!

Safely behind the closed bathroom door, Mac tried to let the growing orgasm pass. She was most definitely aroused. There was no way that she was going to complete her orgasm, not with that pious Harmon Rabb on the other side of what they called a door in this dump. She leaned heavily against the sink waiting for her pulsing to stop. She had definitely lost her mind...shake it off Marine. It was nothing to him and it should mean nothing to you. Make this about the assignment, getting home and moving on with your life. Don't make too much out of a game of pretend and jeopardize an already tenuous friendship and working relationship.

"Now what?" Harm trying to recovery himself, shouted at her through the thin bathroom door.

"Plan on spending the night...that son of bitch might come back to check up on me. I'll shower first."

"Mac...I'm going back to base. Mac are you listening to me?"

He watched as she opened the bathroom door abruptly, stormed to the bed and knelt facing him. "Harm can you do me? Please." His breath caught in his throat at her request, watching her try to undo the halter-top. Her frustration more than evident.

"...What did you say?"

"Get this damn knot out of this top so I can strip down and shower. What is wrong with you?" Mac felt her irritation growing as he just stared blankly at her. This whole sleazy assignment was getting the best of her and making her nuts!

"Nothing. Nothing. Turn around." Harm watched her turn; her beautiful muscled shoulders bundled into tight knots. Instead of reaching to help undo the thin string that held her together, he leaned her back against him kneading her bare shoulders trying to massage the tension away.

Mac didn't resist as she felt his strong hands start to work miracles. The sensation of his touch for any reason causing her to lean involuntarily into him and relax. As long as she remembered that she was Colonel Sarah Mackenzie, she would be OK. As long as she remembered it was a game and it wasn't her he had envisioned in arms, she would be OK.

"Oh...Perfect. Right there. Right there. Harm don't stop." She purred the words as she leaned her head back on his shoulder and her eyes fluttered shut. She had to stop this, but it just felt so good. So damn good.

"You know Renee had nothing to do with before."

Harm heard no response, his hands continuing his movements. Each movement was becoming a more sensual touch. Her skin starting to scorch his fingers. He moved to the center of her back snaking his arm around her small waist and pushing her back against his other hand. He felt her tense and whispered in her ear. "Relax Marine...just some counter pressure." He had to stop this, but it just felt so good. So damn good. He hadn't pretended she was Renee whether she believed it or not. Mac could never be anyone but Mac to him and he knew that. He had known it for a long time, but why was he so damned scared?

"Harm."

"What?"

"I'm sorry about before."

"Which part?"

"All of it. The ranting, the teasing, the comment about Mic...It's just this whole assignment has rubbed me the wrong way. No pun intended. Guys like Jammison pray on women day in day out. He's why I would definitely cast my vote for mandatory castration for the sexually perverse." Mac realized that he had stopped the illusion of relieving her tension and that he had moved his other arm around her and was just holding her, nestled between his legs, pressing her comfortably against him.

"Ouch! Castration is a little harsh don't you think Marine?" Harm felt her cover his hands with hers as she further relaxed against him. He had no intention of moving an inch the scent uniquely hers starting to lull him into a slight and unconscious rhyme against her.

"Day in day out these women humiliate themselves by allowing that son of a bitch to manipulate them into doing whatever he wants. It's just so degrading and in the end some of them even end up dead. For what!" Harm sensed a change in her breathing and heard her voice elevate.

"Hey, Mac. These women know what they are doing. This is the life they have chosen for themselves. It may not be right by our standards, but from what I've seen most of them appear to be willing participants. Some of them sure seem to know and enjoy what they doing."

"No! You just don't know what they go through. Why they do it. It's nothing a man can understand. It's nothing anyone can understand unless they have been through it...been forced to do things...things...I wouldn't." Mac had turned in his arms her breathing elevated and tears rolling down her cheeks. "Please it's not as easy a choice as you think...sometimes there is no choice...it's forced upon you...and there is no way out!"

"Hey, OK. It's OK. Where did this come from? Mac, look at me." Harm reached and held her face between his hands wiping her tears with his thumbs trying to gauge the sudden change in her. The sudden vulnerability in the strong Marine, who moments before had been a spitfire of indignation.

"I'm sorry it's just this case. I'm OK. Really." She covered his hands with hers and lowered her eyes trembling visibly embarrassed by yet another outburst.

Harm lifted her face to his as he gently leaned forward and kissed her forehead, letting his lips relish the softness of her skin lingering longer than he should have. Raising her to him he trailed small slow kisses down her cheeks finally catching her lips hungrily with his. He heard the moan that rose from deep within her and felt her lean into his kiss, parting her lips anxiously and teasing his tongue with hers, causing him to slip firmly and quickly into her warm mouth. What had started as an innocent conversation and caresses turned into the longing of a lifetime for the taste of her. White lights danced behind his eyelids, as he felt her move further against him and deepen a kiss that carried a heated desire between them and spoke of more so much more to come.

Mac felt his gentle touch, sought his lips with hers, felt his muscled form grinding erotically against her and felt herself reacting in kind. She was drifting trembling on the wings of a lusted desire to where she had always wanted to be wrapped passionately in Harmon Rabb's arms. She felt herself move closer to him her body pulsing heatedly as she let herself feel his scorching touch, burning her with every movement, rubbing her sensually along the bareness of her back. She gasped when his one hand moved under the wisp of her skirt and hooked one finger under the strap of her thong.

His delicate slow deliberate sexual ministrations fueled by her uncontrollable need for him, started to chip at her barriers. But barriers were something that Sarah Mackenzie had always expertly built. The last remaining was the strongest; reinforced indelibly by the rejection of that damn ferry ride across Sydney Harbor and strengthened by the memories of her current surroundings and a past she wanted to forget. She had never wanted him more than at this very moment in time, but he had rejected her once before and there were just too many words that still remained unsaid between them.

Mac pulled herself forcefully out of his arms, away from the only place once she had thought would give her all the solace and safety she would want or need. She found her voice still husky with an aching need for him and asked two simple questions. "Why now? Why here?"

"What?" Harm felt her move away and this time it was not only his body that started to protest the growing distance, but his heart.

"Why now? Why here, Harm? Are you telling me it's time to let go." She was trembling as she continued to move away from him until he answered her.

"I don't know. Please Mac. I don't know why here, where we are going, but I do know I don't want to lose what we have and that is what is happening. Don't ask me again to try..." He reached for her only to have her pull further away.

They were words that cut into her heart like a knife. They didn't bring the meaning to Sarah Mackenzie that she wanted to hear. Nor did they bring the need that would convince her to tear down the remaining barrier between them. But she did see the confusion in his eyes, a confusion that refused him to care for her as woman, except perhaps in the heated surroundings of this assignment. She balled her hands in small fists and pushed herself up against his chest and away from him.

"It's late. You better go, Commander." She stood stiffly at the side of the bed and fumbled more fervently with the tangled knot at the base of her neck, this time just breaking the thin tie with sheer frustrated force, watching as two crisp neatly folded $20 bills fell from between her heaving breasts.

"Well, the night hasn't been a total waste." She turned without a glance opening the door to the bungalow.

Harm was numbed by her reaction. No he was numbed by not being able to tell her what she wanted to hear. Numbed by the memory of her in his arms confusing the increasing ache he felt without her. But he wasn't stupid and he knew subconsciously that he might have this time pushed her out of his life forever.

"Mac please. Can we just try to talk about it? Mac?" Harm knew she wasn't listening to him as she continued to stand with her back to him. He noticed her slightly shiver and his heart broke for the woman he couldn't say the words to. Mac wasn't like all the rest and yet he couldn't say the words. He couldn't let go.

"Mac. What if Jamisson comes back?"

"I'm a big girl Commander and a Marine. I'll just tell him doing you didn't take as long as I thought it would. Goodnight, Commander."

"Mac?"

"Goodnight, Commander."

Harm heard her close the door behind him and heard the click of the lock. He leaned heavily against the exterior of the door. This time he had really done it, as faintly through the thin slatted door he heard her soft voice filled with conviction "Goodbye, Harmon Rabb Jr."


THE FLIGHT DECK MOTEL
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
1030HRS (EST)


She was back there again. She heard the voices and only recognized one as they continued to laugh. She tried to move, but she was pinned by the haze, fear and obligation. There was music. There was so much music. Loud and brash as it surrounded her vibrating through her. She tried to get up, but she couldn't. She couldn't. She tried to protest, but she shouldn't. She shouldn't. So she drifted back to the darkness. Back to the humiliation. Back there. That wasn't her. That was someone else.


Mac cursed herself for her dreams of weakness and self-pity, as she fought the new memories of last night when she woke sweating the next morning. God, how she had just wanted him to stay with her, make love to her and let her please him like she knew she could. But she couldn't, because he wouldn't. He wouldn't tell her he needed and wanted her and she couldn't bring herself to be with him as long as he pretended she was someone else. She still believed in her heart that he thought she was Renee. He apparently wanted her as long as she was someone else. That wasn't her. That wasn't who she was.

She fell back against the lumpy mattress and the deflated pillows trying to focus on Mic. Trying to let her mind accept that duel citizenship was quickly becoming her only option. At least Mic was in some of the dreams that plagued her fitful night's sleep this time. Was that a good sign? Had she finally let go of hoping she would be anything but a partner to the sanctimonious Harmon Rabb?

Standing groggily Mac made her way to the bathroom. No it wasn't a good sign, because she had woken with the burning desire to complete a dream-induced orgasm. Her life was a mess and this assignment appeared never-ending. She had to get back to Washington, give Mic the answer he wanted and forget that damn naval aviator. Just take it a day at a time Marine and just pray that several days don't decide to attack you all at once.


Mac stepped into the shower without even testing the slow lukewarm trickle that dripped onto the rusted and cracked porcelain. God, this place was more than a dump. It even made the "Bates Motel" look inviting, she thought as she tried to get wet enough to work up a lather.

"Sarah, are you up?" Mac heard Cindy Allison's voice and her incessant knocking through her haze and the shower's trickle.

"Hang on." Mac threw on a robe and made her way quickly to the door grateful for the distraction. Grateful that she could push both of them out of her mind if just for awhile. She liked Cindy Allison and felt she understood her. Gaining the girl's confidence and pumping her for information had first precipitated their friendship. But maybe, just maybe she could help save her from herself. If anything, Sarah Mackenzie had learned that when a person reaches rock bottom in their life an ounce of help is better than a pound of preaching.

"Thought you might want to get a bite before our lunch shift starts." Cindy was a breathtaking blonde barely 20, the wear of her profession not yet dulling her exquisite features, which still retained a pure innocence about them. She was Mac's height and weight, but God had certainly given her his best and she knew how to make it even better and successfully uses it to her advantage. Whoever had taught her had taught her well.

"Sure. Where do you want to go?"

"Ricks?"

"Sounds great. Give me about 20?" Mac heard her mumble something, the bedsprings creak and the TV go on as Cindy flopped on the bed.

"No prob..."


Mac showered and dressed quickly and when she came out of the bathroom Cindy was exactly where Mac had left her engrossed in a Scooby Doo Cartoon and laughing like a naive child at a birthday party. Mac shook her head sadly as she stuffed the $40 in her jeans and grabbed her jacket.

"Ready?"

"Yea, we better push it or Buck will ream us a new one if we are late."


"Ricks" was an icehouse not far from the "Flight Deck" frequented mostly by farm road locals, some military personnel from the base, but never any tourists. It had the worse and the best of a typical Texas icehouse, but the food was great and Rick had the character western novels were made of. The sweating good old boy looked up from the fire pit and greeted them personally as they made their way to a small table by the jukebox.

"Y'all gonna get the regular ladies?"

"Yea. Thanks Rick."

"Sarah anything particular you wanna hear?" Cindy got up and moved towards the old jukebox that loomed in the darkened corner, looking like it was about to sputter it's dying breath with the next quarter that was played.

"Reba, Faith...you pick it." Mac watched as Cindy seemed to be making the decision of a lifetime, pressed a few buttons and returned to the table not going unnoticed by all the male customers in the eatery. Her casual seductive movements causing them to literally spin on their stools.

"So how was it last night?" Cindy looked at Mac with wide eyes, a slight smile on her face that intimated she wanted to know it all.

"What about last night?"

"Oh c'mon Sarah. You know the Sailor. I noticed how he was looking at you. Hell, he hardly ever notices the rest of us, not even the dancers most times. I should have known you had dibs on him when I asked you about him yesterday. If looks could have killed I would have been planted half way to hell and back! So how was he? Incredible, I'd bet!" Cindy smiled innocently, still watching Mac intensely as she anticipated hearing all the hot details.

"Different." Mac tried to avoid Cindy's eyes as she focused on the splattering grease coming off the barbecue. Watch it Marine. Remember your reaction needs to be dispassionate, because to this girl last night was a job. It was a career.

"Ohhhhh....How different?" Cindy purred the words. Naked images of the tall good looking Naval Aviator in her mind made her shift slightly. A small smile played across her lips knowing that he would be good, very good.

"...Just different."

"Hey give me something here! Different good or different bad? Though ya know very, very bad can be very, very good sometimes!" Cindy still was hanging on Mac's every expression, when suddenly the Jukebox sputtered to life distracting her and filling the dimly lit eatery with one of the songs the she had chosen.

Mac breathed a sign of relief knowing that she had probably turned 30 shades deeper than the crimson dried chili peppers hanging around old Rick's neck. As Rick made his way to their table with their orders, the congeniality of true southern hospitality written all over his face, Mac stole a glance at the girl across the table swaying seductively to the sounds of the music. Thank God for short attention spans! The last thing Sarah Mackenzie wanted to do was remember the "Sailor's" touch, what it did to her and what it would always do to her.

  Though we had a good thing baby...
You pulled the wool over my eyes...
Should've seen it coming baby...
Now all I see is a cool love dying...
Honey I don't want to hold you down...
Why you gotta own the lock and the key...
Ooh tell me baby...
A good thing just don't come around...
And you can't have it for free...
No not me...


"Cindy?"

  You've been a river of give...
And an ocean of take darling...
For heavens sake...
You've got me up and down and in between...
Acting nice and being real mean...
Well you hold me tight and then turn your back...
Who could deal with that...
You say you want to work it out boy...
Tell me what's in it for me...
In it for me...


"Cindy!"

"Sorry Sarah. I just love that song...it just sort of does something to me. And hell, I'll tell ya when Lotti danced to it at the club well I can't even describe what it did to all the guys. Talk about thinking with the wrong head!"

"Lotti Jenkins was the bartender right?" Keep it light Marine, don't let her feel like your pumping her.

Lotti Mae Jenkins was the second victim.

"Yea, she bartended for awhile until she figured that the tips in front of the bar were better than behind the bar. Buck let her dance on and off, but mostly she bartended. She made her bucks and just moved on. I guess it ended up paying more than the rent. One day she was there and then pouf she doesn't show for her second shift. Haven't seen hide nor hair of her since."

"What did you think of her?" Mac tried to keep her questioning casual not wanting to appear too eager or too focused on the subject.

"She was OK, but she kept to herself most times. Because she bartended at first she thought she was all high and mighty. Better ya know then us girls. I personally found her kinda weird myself."

"Weird how?" Keep it dispassionate Marine, don't appear too interested.

  Living in your own world...
You act like I'm just passing through...
Oh yea...
Don't you wanna be happy...
Don't you know how good that could be...
Oh it could be...
Seems everybody's telling you something...
That they know you just want to hear...
Oh but you ain't gonna hear it from me...

You've been a valley of love...
And a mountain of need baby...
It's time you see...

And an ocean of take darling...
For heavens sake...
You've got me up and down and in between...
Acting nice and being real mean...
Well you hold me tight and then turn your back...
Who could deal with that...
You say you want to work it out boy...
Tell me what's in it for me...
In it for me...


"Cindy!" Mac watched as Cindy again was off in her own little world, still swaying rhythmically with the music.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. Well, after Ruth, you know got killed, well I just thought it was weird that she used it?"

"Used what?" Mac was starting to get impatient with the short cryptic answers, but she knew that she was getting somewhere if she could just keep Cindy's attention on the subject at hand.

"The song. They both used the song in their act. First Ruth and then Lotti after you know Ruth got killed. I personally thought it was creepy that Lotti wanted to use it after all that happened that's all." Cindy shrugged her shoulders and continued her seductive movements, to the delight of the restaurant clientele who had now become an audience.

  You've been a river of give...
And an ocean of take darling...
For heavens sake...
You've got me up and down and in between...
Acting nice and being real mean...
Well you hold me tight and then turn your back...
Who could deal with that...
You say you want to work it out boy...
Tell me what's in it for me...
In it for me...

In it for me...
What's in it for me...
In it for me...


"Ruth George?" The music was now pounding incessantly in her head, as Mac tried to get Cindy to focus.

"Yea. Why?"

"Ruth George? She didn't work at the club. She was a nurse at the base?" Mac pressed on carefully, not wanting to spook her. This was more information then Cindy had volunteered since Mac had warmed up to her and more information then Harm and her had gathered since this damn assignment had started.

Ruth Ann George was the first victim.

"Well yea, but she well sometimes danced for extra money. You know, she had two kids and that crazy drunken boyfriend of hers wasn't working so she just did it when Buck needed her to fill in." Cindy Allison knew she was treading on poisoned ground and that if Buck ever found out she was talking about the murder he would skin her alive. But she liked Sarah Kendall. Sarah Kendall was different from the other girls at the club and she liked having someone to talk to.

"Seems like it was a popular tune." Mac's mind was racing. Two of the victims had danced at the "Flight Deck." Two of the victims had used the same music. Could it be as simple as that? Something in a song?

"Well, it got the guys going and whoever used it sure racked in the bucks. I can't even begin to tell you where Jessie found a hundred stuck once." Cindy laughed like a child, but it's resonance sent an eerie chill through Sarah Mackenzie that even the closeness of the roaring fire pit couldn't warm.

Cindy Allison's last comment hit Mac like the wave of a most violent storm as she snapped her attention to the young women across the table. "Jessie?"

"Yea, Jessie. Oh that's right y'all didn't meet her. She left before Buck hired you. Hey where are ya going?" Cindy Allison watched as Sarah Mackenzie bolted from the table heading towards Rick.

Jessie Lynn Turner was the third victim.

"First to Wal Mart, then to see Mimmi! I'll see you at the start of our shift!"

Sarah Mackenzie felt like she was shot out of a cannon as she bolted to the door. The sorted pieces were finally falling into place in the puzzle. All the girls had danced at the club at least once! And the most common thread of all was that song. Something in that song was driving a psycho to kill.

Mac approached the counter and laid the $40 down told Buck to keep it and asked him if there was a chance he could call her a cab. She knew what she had to do and little time to formulate a plan. Little time to gather her strength and the courage to go back there. Back to the humiliation. Back there. That wasn't her. That was someone else.

"Lttle Darlin, around here this time of day YOU'D even grown horns and attack the cows before a cab shows. Here take my truck, I'll pick it up at the "Flight Deck" later when I get a cold one. Thanks for the tip." Buck looked at the two twenties in his hand. "Hey, for $40 bucks you can have my damn son!" He grinned as he watched Sarah Kendall wave for him to keep it and disappear through the door. She was different than the rest, much different and it was such a damn shame.


CORPUS CHRISTI NAVAL AIR STATION
FLOUR BLUFF, TEXAS
1630HRS (EST)


Harm was frustrated. He had just spent the last 2 hours having his six chewed by NICS, the Base Command and the Local County Sheriff. On pressure from the SEVNAV, the local authorities had been forced to keep two of the murders out of the press and the fact that their investigation had turned up no leads was starting to make all the locals nervous. They were no closer to finding a killer that could strike at any time, anyone, swiftly and silently with no known commonality.

Harm turned north on his way back to his Motel before going to the "Flight Deck". It was already into the night shift and he hadn't talked to Mac since last night. Since he had heard her whisper her goodbye. God Damn it Rabb, you're such a damned ass! Why couldn't you just leave it alone? Why did you have to touch her? Why the hell did you touch her after all that had passed between you? After all you weren't ready to say yet!

The silence in the car was stifling so he distractedly played with the knobs on the radio. He grew more frustrated as all the sounds that filled the confined vehicle, were songs about pick up trucks, drunken cowboys, barstools, cheating wives, cheating husbands and lost loves. Harm was quickly becoming suicidal, as he gave up the fight and brought his concentration back to the case, back to the road and back to his Marine.

  I can feel you breathe...
Just washing over me...
And suddenly I'm melting into you...
There's nothing left to prove...
And baby all we need is just to be...
Caught up in the touch...
Strong and steady rush...
And baby isn't that the way that love suppose to be...
I can feel you breathe...
Just breathe...


God, how he had wanted to stay with her. He hadn't been able to get the thought of her out of his mind all day nor the scent of her from surrounding him. The feel of her hard against him, teasing and tugging and assaulting his confused emotions yet fueling his need for her. Wanting to experience the excess of sheer pleasure that he knew would be uniquely Mac. That she could elicit in him and take him where he had never wanted to be with anyone.

Images of her played over and over in his mind, as he remembered her sensual skin scorching his fingers at every touch. Her body pressed heatedly against his grinding hungrily for more. Her taste, as his tongue explored her warm mouth and she his. Her wetness for him he felt, as his hands delved under the thong that covered all he wanted to feel, to taste, to touch.

  In a way I know my heart is waking up...
As all the walls come tumbling down...
Closer than I've ever felt before...
And I know...
And you know...
There's no need for words right now...


Harm tensed as the music filled the interior of the car and the lyrics started to bore tiny little holes in his heart. If he could just damn breathe...


THE FLIGHT DECK MOTEL
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
1630HRS (EST)


Sarah Mackenzie fell exhausted on the bed, her eyes still puffy and red. This was going to be a lot harder than she had thought, than she had convinced herself it would be. But she knew after her conversation with Cindy and her audition with Buck Jamisson, that there was no turning back now. God, this was a really bad idea. A really bad idea. But it was the only shot they had. Push the envelope Marine and then maybe this will be over and you can go back to some semblance of a future with...Mic. With someone who loves you, wants you and doesn't just respect you as an officer, a partner and a Marine. God how pathetic you are! How pathetic!

The fact that the "Flight Deck" was an exotic dance club and not a totally nude strip club was the only thing that gave her the guts to do what she was going to do. Well, at least they got to wear more than shoes when the set was over, if you called the outfit Mimmi had given her as "more than". She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to run through the rules that Buck Jamisson had hissed at her once she had slipped her robe back on. But along with his words came the vision of him leering at her as she danced...and when his hands...


FLIGHT DECK - 4 HOURS EARLIER


"You do three sets a night. There are three parts to each set. First the tease...5 minutes when you dance with your clothes on. Second...5 minutes when you dance and strip it down. Third...5 minutes when you dance stripped. Shoes, bra and g-string better be the only thing I see for the last 5 minutes, baby. In the way of clothes, that is, because if I don't see all that I like you don't get paid."

"Yes, Sir."

"Oh, one more thing. You work the floor for an hour after each set and I mean work it. We're a lap club here so I better see you stripped in lots of warm and eager laps. Got it. Give your music to Rex and he'll mix it for length."

"Yes, Sir."

"Kendall. What you do after your shift is over is your own business, but remember nothing is free. I've got a reputation you know. Nothing, so remember that."

"Yes, Sir."

"I'll get Rachel to cover your afternoon shift. Better go practice it, baby. Not that you're not good, but I want you to be real good. You're a little stiff and you're not what I want stiff in my place tonight. Unless you want good old Buck here to loosen you up a bit?" He had moved within inches of her slipping his hands under her robe and grabbing her bare ass pushing her hard against his grinding his groin hungrily against her, his suffocating breath on her face, his eyes full of perverse desire.

She could have had him on the floor in seconds. She knew that. She could have killed him with her bare hands. She knew that. But somehow, she had gotten out of there. Away from him, though she didn't remember what she had said, what she had done that freed her from his roaming hands and the feel of his repulsive body pressing her into the desk. What ever she had done, Mac recalled it had excited him further, but for some reason he just let her go with a leering hungry smirk on his face.

The only thing that Sarah Mackenzie did remember vividly about her afternoon encounter was being sick the minute she returned to her room and the sobs that racked her body for what seemed like hours. Shame for what she had done and for what she was about to do again. As she drifted off, not even thoughts of her naval aviator this time could comfort nor soothe her soul.


FLIGHT DECK MOTEL
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
1845(HRS)


Mac's eyes fluttered open, the first thing that came into focus was the outfit hanging in the closet that Mimmi had said was "just the ticket!" Yea, well it was about the size of a ticket...three very, very small tickets! She pushed herself off the bed and made her way to the bathroom. Well, Marine your first set is in 62 minutes, better move it. Your new career awaits.


THE FLIGHT DECK
CORPUS CHRISTI, TX
1930HRS (EST)


Sarah Mackenzie entered the dressing area apprehensively, as she ran her act again through her head. The other dancers acknowledged her with cool wary nods, apparently all aware of Buck's attraction to the new dancer. An attraction that meant that Sarah Kendall would get the "special" jobs that paid a hell of a lot better than dancing and the veteran dancers who had paid their dues were not happy.

As she found an empty spot at the long row of dressing tables lined up against the back area, her mind was racing about the case, her act, and the reaction she would get from the stoic Commander. She knew he would angry with her for not pre-warning him about her plan. She knew he would be angry with her for not sharing the information she had learned. But would he be angry with her as she stripped, near naked, for the hundreds of eyes that would be gaping and groping her as she gyrated around the stage. Would he be angry with her, as she pretended she enjoyed all the physical groping? To hell with what he thought! This was an assignment and she would do what it took, no matter what he thought. Hadn't he in the past. Hadn't he done anything to make a point? Hadn't he done anything to solve a case? The truth was everything, wasn't that what he always said. Even at the cost of ones dignity or ones self-respect. No matter...


Harm pulled into the parking lot of the "Flight Deck" noticing it was jammed for an early weeknight. He finally found a spot and walked to the bar area adjacent to the dance area of the club. He had made it a habit to linger in the bar, because it gave him greater mobility and a bird's eye view of the guys that crowded the club each night. It was also easier to keep an eye on Mac, as she made her way from table to table, being touched erotically night after night in places he wanted his hands to feel. He shook the thoughts of that heated pleasure from his mind. After last night, he didn't even know if they were speaking, no thanks to his erratic behavior. What concerned him more was where they stood now, if there was anything left between them or if all the sand had run out of his hourglass.

"Hey Sailor. The usual?"

"Hey Troy. Yea thanks? You're packed tonight. Jamisson giving something away for free?" Harm accepted the beer from the bartender looking around the crowded club for any sign of Mac. Where the hell was she? He needed to see her!

"That old boy wouldn't give the fleas off his dog away for free. Nah, got a few new dancers doing intro sets tonight. You know everyone wants to get the first look at fresh meat. Know what I mean?"

"Yea." Harm still swept the club area a sick apprehension starting to nag at him. He should have checked in with her, after all he was there to cover her six. Why hadn't he called her? Why hadn't she checked in with him? He knew why he hadn't, but was afraid to face why she hadn't. Mac could be pig-headed and obstinate when she wanted to, but when she was hurt she rolled into a ball like a porcupine. Damn it! All this tension between them was starting to affect the case and their ability to work together, to cover each other. He knew he was right. He had to keep his distance if there was any hope that they could remain friends and partners. That was what was important and nothing else. Where the hell was she? He had to see her!

Troy Grady watched the Naval Aviator out of the corner of his eye as he filled the waitresses trays. What the hell was a guy like that doing in a place like this? He could have anyone he wanted Troy bet. Why the hell would he hang around the cheap sluts that worked this place? It just didn't figure. It just didn't sit right.

"You're getting to be a regular Navy. Anything in particular you like."

"Maybe."

"Yea. I figured. Well, if it is that cute brunette Sarah, you're in for quite a treat tonight, buddy." Troy carefully watched the expression on the Sailor's face as he baited him.

"Oh yea. How's that?" Harm was only half listening to the young bartender still scouring the bar for Mac. Where the hell was she? He needed to know everything was all right between them. He just needed to see her!

"She's due on in about 15 and if the drool on old Buck's face after her audition is any indication. Man, oh man, we're all in for something real good and hot tonight."

Harm swore he had heard Troy wrong, as his eyes darkened and he spun around to face the bartender. Knowing he was playing the part of a hormone driven male on overload, he tried to keep his voice emotionless and even. "She's dancing?"

"Oh yea...she's dancing all right. I understand she's ex military and real hot, so if I were you Navy I would try to get up real close and personal. If she's the treat you're looking for tonight that is? Tell you the truth I wouldn't mind a piece of her later myself. Just a taste, mind you. After all I wouldn't want to be accused of mixing business with pleasure, though I bet a piece of her would be well worth it. Would be real good."

Harm hands were clenched in tight fists under the top rail of the bar's surface as he glared at the retreating bartender's back, hearing his perverse laugh as he dished out pitchers to a group of Jarheads that stood at the end of the bar. His jaw tensed visibly as Troy's comments starting burning inside him. What had she lost her mind? What could she be thinking? She wouldn't! She couldn't! He needed to see her now!

Harm grabbed his beer and started for the dressing room area, ready to deal with the 300-pound bouncer who normally stood guard over the dancers. Just as he rounded the front of the stage heading towards the exit, the lights dimmed and the music started the intro for the beginning of the night's entertainment. He froze by the side of the stage as he heard Jamisson's voice come over the PA system.


Mac stood nervously behind the curtain taking small breaths to level her breathing and stop her heart from racing. Remember right brain, left brain theory. You need something to focus on to ease the anxiety. Focus on something to get you through this. You can do this Marine. This is just an undercover assignment. This isn't real. This isn't who you are. This is someone else. This isn't you. This was never you.


"Well ya'll we're in for one hell of a fine treat tonight. Fine indeed. For all our boys in uniform this little lady is hot especially for you. She doesn't need the cover, but I bet she could cover you real good anywhere and anytime. C'mon boys, let's hear it for my DREAM MARINE!

As the lights jumped to life and the glaring music throbbed through him, Harmon Rabb watched as Sarah Mackenzie in full uniform strutted on to the stage through the red velvet curtain.


The minute she walked out on to the stage her movements perfectly attuned to the music, she saw him standing to her right. A small sign escaped her lips, as she found her focus. Her fantasies became her focus. Events that she wished for in all her sleepless nights for as long as she could remember. She had imagined herself stripping for him slowly and seductively in so many of her fantasies. She had imagined his eyes hungrily anticipating each piece of clothing she sensually removed, waiting for the sight of more of her flushed bare skin. She had imagined his hands touching and stroking her as he explored each patch of new skin she offered him. She had imagined his roaming hands kneading the desire in her and her pleasuring the need in him. Her focus was Harmon Rabb...


His heart pounded as if it was going to beat out of his chest when he saw her walk through the curtain in full uniform, swaying in perfect rhythm to the music that surrounded her in a haze offering the ultimate seductive erotic sexual pleasure.

He survived the tease standing rigidly with his arms across his chest, as he watched all of her in what appeared to be a world spinning around him in slow motion. He watched as she writhed to the music sensually, wrapping her legs tightly around the pole, letting it stimulate her sex as she erotically slid to the floor leaning against it wantonly letting it tease the valley between her breasts. He watched as she writhed to the music sensually, straddling the chair with her legs spread provocatively before her, running her hands over her perfect body erotically, slowly and hungrily. He watched as she moved to the music sensually...

He survived the strip standing rigidly with his arms across his chest and his jaw clenched tightly as he watched all of her in what appeared to be a world spinning around him in slow motion. He watched as she writhed to the music sensually, turning her back to the audience, her legs spread in a provocative stanch, as she slowly unbuttoned her uniform jacket and let it slip to the floor, arching her back and running her hands through her hair erotically. Her head moving from side to side. He watched as she writhed to the music sensually, letting her skirt pool around her legs exposing her firm ass, as she bent over and ran her hands erotically up the length of her. He watched her turn with a teasing conviction, running her hands again the length of her near naked flushed skin, her rhythmic, sensual and erotic teasing touches enticing the hungry glazed eyes watching her. Her slow, deliberate ministrations accentuated by the skimpy straps of the black leather studded g string that sat high on her hips exposing her firm ass, the small leather triangle suspended by thin chains the only thing shielding her sex teasingly from the hungry eyes that heatedly groped for her. The high cut of the g-string and the 4-inch stiletto heels accentuating her strong muscled legs, as they moved sensually, rhythmically and purposely with the music inflaming the hungry eyes that groped for her. The thin small studded black leather triangles, that strained tenuously, as she outlined her heaving breasts erotically with her fingers, her large, hardened and erect nipples inflaming the hungry eyes wanting her. He watched as she moved to the music sensually...

Harmon Rabb survived the tease. Harmon Rabb survived the strip. Harmon Rabb could not however survive the dance, as the beer bottle crushed in the flexing of his fist, turned his back and walked out of the "Flight Deck" never noticing the blood that ran from his palm.


FLIGHT DECK HOTEL
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
0030(HRS)


After the first set and floor time Mac was aroused, as she fixated on her Naval Aviator, never once allowing her mind or body to feel the disgusting touches of the "Flight Deck" clientele. After the second set and floor time, she was trembling remembering his departure and allowing the memories of a past time to weaken her resolve assaulting her will with a flood of repressed memories. After the third set she was numb as yet another pair of lecherous hands pushed her hard against his hot and ready lap grinding hungrily against her sex. This wasn't her as she felt their hands grab her ass and push her further onto their pulsing erections, wanting more from her, hoping for more.... She wanted to cry out in revulsion unable any longer to pretend she wasn't here. It wasn't her. Knowing that she was alone through all of this, totally alone again in the darkness of the past and the pain of the present.


THE FLIGHT DECK
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
2200HRS (EST)


Harmon Rabb sat in the darkness of his vehicle lost in the thick blackness of the coffee he watched swirling in the cup he held in his hand. His hand bandaged his heart bleeding, his mind bruised by the memories of tonight and his will assaulted by an uncompromising desire and a confused need. Closing his eyes he attempted to will his practiced composure back into place. The composure that had shielded him and protected him for so long, from feeling, from caring, from needing another human being and from allowing anyone to touch him personally.

Harm tried to run again through his mind all that had happened between them since his return culminating with the events of tonight. Her actions he didn't understand and his own reaction to what was or wasn't between them scared the hell out of him. Their professional relationship had been strained at best and they spent little or no time together personally. It had just gotten progressively worse especially since Australia, since that damn ferry ride. Their closeness was gone and all that was left was a professional competition, snide conversations about their chosen partners and his intense burning desire for her.

Who the hell was Sarah Mackenzie? Was she the courageous woman he had respected and trusted who had overcome the insurmountable adversities placed in her path by life to become a competent officer, lawyer, woman and friend? Or was she a woman who had brought her life's tragedies on herself, with her actions, her choice in men. Had he been fooled into thinking she had integrity, honor and self-conviction? Had he been fooled into thinking that she cared for him as more than a partner? Had he fooled himself into thinking he cared for her?

Who was the woman who had worn her supposed innocent heart on her sleeve on that ferry ride across Sydney Harbor, professing unspoken feelings that she wanted more from their relationship? Or were her words, her look just a teasing come on to him, proven by turning two days later and accepting Brumby's ring and stepping away from him so easily. Was she a woman who could inflame him with her body last night, only to stop feigning the need for commitment from him and deny him the pleasure of her body when he didn't say what she wanted to hear. Then the next night turn tonight into a palace of erotic need, striping unashamedly in front of a room of full of strangers, with obvious pleasure, letting them probe heatedly the places that should only have been his to feel.

Who was Sarah Mackenzie?


Mac hid unconsciously in the darkened corner of the bar, watching Buck Jamisson approach from the stage area. Oh God, she thought. Please no more! No more! She bit her lip apprehensively, seeing the leering smile on his face and realizing she had to continue with this charade. She had come too far to turn back! She had gone over the jagged edge lost in the dark world that had held her once.

"You did good girl. Damn good. It's time to settle up." Buck Jamisson's face contorted with lust as he locked his stare on Sarah Mackenzie moving closer to her, his breath sending chills of fear and hate through her bare body and soul.

Mac handed the bar owner 60% of her night's tips, stepping backwards as he counted the cash never taking her darkened eyes from him. Instinctively she knew this wasn't the end. There was more indignation in store for Sarah Kendall.

"Well, I must say you did better than any of the other girls, baby. Now it's time to really settle up." Mac felt the audible gasp escape her lips as she tensed at his movement towards her, willing the tears away that finally burned her eyes.

Mac felt Buck pull her against him, his lips on her neck sucking hungrily. She felt his hand cup her breast as he twisted her nipple forcefully between his fingers. She heard his groan of pleasure at what he felt, as he grabbed more of her biting and sucking her flesh as he moved his mouth towards her breast. But she also saw Buck suddenly stop and pull back from her a strange look of acknowledgment on his face.

She felt his scent surround her, his presence shielding her with a calming warmth, the heat of his body and his arm around her bare waist causing her to relax into him. Thank God, he had come for her. He hadn't left her. She wasn't alone. She wasn't back there.

"She's taken for the rest of night." Harm eyes were darkened slits of fire as he faced Buck Jamisson with conviction and slammed three crisp $100 bills on the bar.

"What ever you want Sailor. Whatever you want. Right Sarah, you'll show our friend here a good time? You'll do him right." Jamisson watched as Harm guided Mac firmly and quickly towards the dressing rooms. He shrugged his shoulders as he pocketed the money. There would be plenty of time to get what he wanted from that one, plenty of time. He smiled with satisfaction, after all he always got what he needed eventually didn't he and he would get what he wanted from that one too.


Mac felt the pressure of Harm's hand increase, his grip tightening on her arm pushing her forcefully towards the dressing room exit.

"Stop it! You're hurting me! Enough all ready!" She turned to him, rubbing her arm where his fingers had gripped her leaving their mark a blackening trying to push itself to the surface. Confusion flushed her dark eyes, as she caught the fury in his normally brilliant eyes.

"Go get dressed! I'll be outside." Harm slipped quickly through the entrance of the "Flight Deck" not acknowledging Mac's protests nor the confusion in her eyes. He thought he had regained his control. He thought he knew who Sarah Mackenzie was. But the minute he saw her with Jamisson hand all over her, his doubting emotions resurfaced with a vengeance and he only knew he had to get out of there as he was assaulted by a suffocating confused reality he did not want to face.

In all the years they had been partners, Mac had never seen him angry with her. Sure they argued, because they were both stubborn, pig headed and strong willed, but she had never seen such intense rage directed at her. Not till tonight had she seen what she saw in Harmon Rabb's eyes.


Mac glad he had come for her but shocked at Harm's reactions, made her way quickly to the dressing area changing in record time into a pair of jeans and an over-sized sweater. She gathered all her toiletries and packed the few clothing items in her duffel. Just as she was ready to leave, she noticed the beautiful and delicate bouquet of yellow roses at the foot of her dressing table discretely hidden. There had to be four dozen baby roses arranged in a beautiful and delicate bouquet tied with the most incredible lace bow. There was no note, nor card. She grabbed them along with the rest of her things and walked out the side door, focused with apprehensive as to what to expect from her obviously unhappy partner.


The minute she saw Harmon Rabb leaning on the fender of the SUV, Sarah Mackenzie went into defensive mode. Fueled by the events of the evening and their relationship over the last two months, her pride bubbled to the surface as her own anger started to build. At him leaving her, at him rejecting her over and over again. Who the hell did he think he was!

"Get in the car."

"What? Harm I'm tired I just..."

"I said get in the car!"

"No!"

Harm had had it as an uncontrollable rage consumed him. He walked to where she was standing and forcefully picked her up and unceremoniously dumped her on the passenger side of the vehicle slamming the door with an unearthly conviction.

One seething Marine Colonel watched as Harmon Rabb slipped into the driver's side of the vehicle, slamming his own door and causing the large vehicle to rock at the shear force of his action. Her anger at his apparent fury had left Mac numb and speechless as she felt the car jerk forward speeding away from the "Flight Deck" into the night.

For what seemed an eternity they rode in a smothering silence, the darkened night highway before them and the country landscape a blur as the car raced into the blackness. The only sounds that were heard in the strained stillness was both their elevated breathing as their anger towards each other, that neither understood, grew in intensity. Finally, Mac turned to her partner her eyes still flashing with the fire that only hurt could surface at his treatment of her.

"Take me back to the Motel, I'm tired and I just want this night to be over."

"Oh? I would have thought you would have wanted this night to last considering how much you seemed to be enjoying yourself." Harm's eyes never left the road, his hands tightly grasped around the steering wheel, as he couldn't bring himself to look at the stranger next to him.

"What the hell are you talking about? Rabb, what the hell are you talking about! Look, I'm sorry I didn't get to tell you what I planned to do, but the case..." Mac spun around unable to control the level of her voice nor the fury that she was feeling.

"The case. Don't blame this on the damn case. I was there! I saw you! I saw how much you enjoyed your little undercover assignment! How turned on you were! Tell me, does what you did tonight come naturally or is it something you developed with lots of practice! Does acting like a two bit..! Harm spun to face her his words dripping with contempt, hoping to see his Marine, but all that stared back at him was a wounded animal whose survival instincts were keened.

"I guess it's like riding a bicycle, you never forget! I know you were there and you didn't seem to have a problem watching me like all the other hormone driven perverts that frequent that dive! What's the matter Commander, didn't see enough or was your ego bruised because you didn't get the private viewing you were denied last night!" Mac's hands were flexing into fists uncontrollably as the level of her voice rose to a shrill scream, not wanting to believe what they were saying to each other. Not wanting to believe she had been lulled into thinking he was any different than the rest. How could he think she took any pleasure in what she had done tonight!

She felt the car jerk to the right and come to a screeching stop, throwing her against the dashboard at it's sudden moment. She saw Harm spin and glare at her his jaw flinching uncontrollably and then watched as he flung the car door open and exited the vehicle unable to speak. She opened her own door and stepped out of the car slamming the door violently behind her. This conversation wasn't over by a long shot! How dare he talk to her like that! How dare he think what he thought! Storming to his side she planned on setting him straight, but before she could get a word out through the haze of rage that overtook her, he turned his eyes flashing with darken anger.

"Like riding a bicycle! I should have known! Is there anything else I don't know about poor Sarah Mackenzie's dark past that I should? Let's see I know about her deprived childhood, her father that abused her, her mother that abandoned her, the husband that she murdered in self-defense, oh yes and let's not forget about her committing adultery with her commanding officer!"

"Why you..."

"Oh yea, let's also not forget that ferry ride. Tell me Mac, did you intend doing both of us in Australia? One at a time or were you going to push the envelop and do us together. Tell me Marine, would that have turned you on? First you tease me on that damn Ferry Ride and then two days later you're wearing Brumby's ring. Is that what you needed? Is that what you wanted? You are really something."

"Why you pious, self righteous, sanctimonious son-of-a-bitch! How the hell do you know what I need or what I've been through? You wouldn't know that if it bit you in your sorry ass!" Mac exploded! There was nothing left in her heart for the stranger that stood before her, as she felt herself harden with every vehement word he spat at her. But she found a strength somewhere deep inside her as she raised her hand and slapped him with such force that it echoed in the night, throwing them both off balance when she made contact.

Once they regained their footing from Mac's assault, they stood glaring at each other like two animals, neither backing down, neither believing in their hearts what the other had said. Their anger, frustration and fury hung in the night air, suffocating them and silencing even the night sounds. Neither of them would back down, neither of them broke eye contact for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, Mac noticing herself start to tremble turned and walked away from him.

"Consider this conversation over! Take me back now!" Mac stormed to the car, the tension still hanging around them only shattered by the pounding of her heart and the incessant ringing of her mobile that had fallen on the floor of the car. Distractedly she reached for it and listened to the voice on the other end, the expression on her face turning instantly from fury to horror.

"We're on our way." She never wanted to ever speak to him again or acknowledge he was even a part of her world. But she willed herself to turn away from the car and address the person who had just ripped her soul from her, her words emotionless, her stare vacant. "That was the County Sheriff. There's been another woman from the "Flight Deck" attacked. He wants us there now. Rabb now!"

Harm still lost in the anger and confusion of what he had said to her, turned walking rapidly to the car. He didn't glance at her nor did he acknowledge her when she slipped next to him. As his words played over and over in his head, he realized he had done what he always had done in the past. Only this time he had done it with the dark hateful vengeance of stranger he didn't recognize. This time his feelings had been too intense, the need too great, the desire too strong.


CORPUS CHRISTI COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
0230(HRS) EST


Mac flew through the Emergency Room doors sweeping the waiting area for Sheriff Jack Dixon. She saw him standing with a group of nurses nodding his acknowledgement when she approached him.

"Where is she?"

"Now just wait one minute, little lady. We need to get her statement before you see her and I need some answers from the two of you."

"I said where is she? My question was a fairly simple one. You can get any answers you need from Commander Rabb, now where the hell is she!"

"The nurse will take you, but my Deputy stays with you."

Mac followed the nurse to one of the curtained emergency areas, shaking with apprehension and oblivious to the Deputy who followed closely behind. As the nurse parted the curtain even the hard Marine Colonel had difficulty suppressing the gasp of horror at the mound of battered flesh cowering in a tight ball on the bed.

"Cindy? Oh my God, Cindy." Mac made her way to the bed and carefully sat next to the quivering girl.

Cindy Allison's beauty was now marred by her chosen profession and was almost unrecognizable. Her beautiful features cut and bruised into mounds of black and purple mottled flesh. Her arms and legs bandaged, but even the bandages couldn't hide the amount of damage inflicted on her nor the rage the individual who did this must have felt. The hatred must have been all consuming to leave this in their wake.

"Sarah, oh Sarah you're here. It was terrible. Why did he hurt me? I was good. I always done what he told me. Always. He's never hurt me this bad before. He always told me if I was good, he would always be real nice to me. I was good. I was good. I promise I was. You believe me don't you? Don't you?" Mac watched as Cindy collapsed in her arms uncontrollable sobs tearing at her body as it shook violently.

Mac held her allowing her the comfort of a warm embrace and letting the young woman try to cry some of the pain away. "I know Cindy. I know. Nobody can understand, the pain, the humiliation, the indignity, the fear, unless they have been through it. No one knows."


Harm tried to answer the Sheriff's questions, realizing there was little he knew about the girl Mac had befriended. Realizing there was very little he knew about the woman who had been his partner for five years. His confusion still clouding the reality he didn't want to face as he tried to continue to convince himself she was who he now thought she was. Not letting his true emotions surface as he ignored the ache that was building within him.

Mac stayed with Cindy until her Doctor came and gave her a sedative to relax her. Dr. Corbin told Mac that Cindy's x-rays showed no internal damage, but that he would like to keep her overnight for observation. Even through the haze of the medication, Cindy had gotten agitated about a night in the hospital and through Mac's intervention the Doctor had agreed to let his patient go home with her friend, as long as she watched the young girl.

While the Doctor completed his final examination, Mac walked back to the reception area to give the Sheriff an update and get some answers from him. Cindy had refused to talk about the who, the what or the where and Mac didn't want to pressure her sensing she wouldn't get much of value from her in her current condition.

"So little lady. Get what you needed from your friend?"

"Yes, she's fine Sheriff. Thank you for asking." Mac bristled at his lack of any empathy towards Cindy. What a pig she thought to herself. "Where did you find her?"

"Bout a mile from the base in a run off ditch."

"Who called it in?"

"Don't know it was anonymous."

"Was the Rape Kit positive."

"Didn't do one. Hell, you can't rape a whore!"

Mac spun around and moved within inches of the Sheriff's face. "You pious, self righteous, sanctimonious son-of-bitch. What the hell do you know what she needs or what she's been through! People like you make my skin crawl with all your holier than thou machinations! You wouldn't know what she needed if it bit you in your sorry ass!"

Harm watched as Sarah Mackenzie stormed back to Cindy Allison, a shudder passing through him as he listened to the proud Marine's words and remembered those exact words had been directed at him just hours ago. What had he done? God what had he done?


Harm helped Mac settle Cindy on the passenger side of their rental against her protests. The only words that had passed between them, had been Mac's plan to take the girl back to the Motel with her for the night. She tensed visibly whenever he was anywhere near her, so he gave her the space she needed avoiding any contact. Now the burning loneliness of loss his only emotion.

"The Sheriff is madder than hell. I'll settle up with him and have one of his Deputies drop me by later."

"No, Commander. That won't be necessary. I'll handle this myself."

"Mac, who ever did this might come after her again to finish what he started. You could..."

"I said no! I can take care of the both of us and besides I have my weapon and I just might shoot you."

"Mac..."

"I said no! Stay away from me Commander."

Harm watched his Marine drive off into the Texas night. He waited till the taillights disappeared into the darkness ignoring the sudden chill of the late Texas night that surrounded him. What the hell did you expect Rabb! What the hell have you done! Why in his dreams could he surrender to the love he felt for her and admit the passion that burned deep within him only for her. But why in the harsh reality of his consciousness had he hurt her like he did with a vengeance. Had he had gone crazy with desire, with jealousy, with the thought that she didn't want him as much as he wanted her? Was he afraid to love another person that he could loose? Loose to his world, because the righteous Harmon Rabb didn't know how to truly be loved or to truly love. Rather than let her into his life, he pushed her away forever with hateful words from a heart that didn't want to believe. It was a mystery how she found something in him, that he never knew was there. She turned him like a season and all consumed him. And instead of letting her lift him as high as heaven, he took them both to hell.


FLIGHT DECK MOTEL
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
0445HRS(EST)


Mac was exhausted mentally and physically, but she took great care in making Cindy as comfortable as possible on the lumpy and deflated mattress. It took every ounce of strength she had left not to allow herself to let his vehement words enter her consciousness and distract her, nor let the inordinate ache that was burning within her surface filling her with the emptiness that was all that there was left. She was alone again. Her past had taken away from her the only person that meant anything to her and she had let it. It had won again and this time she was tired of fighting her past demons. She was who she was and she had to face the fact, that no matter how far she had come she would apparently never be good enough for Harmon Rabb.

Cindy had said next to nothing since they had left the hospital. Mac knew the girl would have a lifetime to remember and recount her attack so she chose not to rush her memories. Mac sat by the bed until she was sure Cindy was asleep then quietly made her way to the bathroom to shower and change. As she looked at herself in the mirror, she was amazed that she had shed no tears. As her distorted reflection stared back at her from the cracked mirror, Sarah Mackenzie realized that you had to feel something to cry and she felt nothing. Everything was gone.

She straightened postponing her shower for the morning as her exhaustion flushed through her. She walked back into the bedroom area, grabbed her weapon and slumped in the single chair in the room. Finishing her bottled water, she swore silently that she would never shed another tear, for what had been, for what was and for what could never be. Sleep came instantly, her Naval Aviator still filled her dreams, but there was no imagined love in his brilliant eyes. His eyes were dead and vacant. As vacant as Sarah Mackenzie's heart. As dead as Sarah Mackenzie's soul.


She heard the loud commotion and the voice, hoarse and rasping. She tried to stand, but felt the pain in her chest increase with her attempt. She tried to move her arms, but they were tightly restrained above her head. She tried to focus on the body hovering over her, but only felt the warm breath on her face, and there was a clouded haze her eyes couldn't penetrate. She tried to speak, but she tasted the cloth in her mouth. She tried to move her head, but she felt the cold steel of the knife against her throat and felt the trickle of blood run between her breasts. She...


CORPUS CHRISTI COMMUNITY HOSPITAL
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
0330HRS (EST)


Harm walked back into the Emergency Room and looked for Dixon. He found the Sheriff in the lounge area beating the Coke machine senseless. He couldn't believe what he had done to her. Said to her. If life only had a rewind button, he would have gone back and done so many things differently.

"Try putting money in. You've probably got a better shot at getting what you want that way." Harm tried a forced smile, but failed miserably as the events of the night continued to attack his tired mind.

"Yea, you can get almost anything when you pay for it. Your little lady get off OK?" Jack Dixon studied the Commander carefully. There was something much more eating him tonight then the case or the beating of a local hooker. There was something more knawing at this guy and he aimed to find out what it was.

"Colonel Mackenzie is no one's little lady. She's an accomplished lawyer and officer in the United States Marine Corp...." Harm tensed as Dixon just shook his head cutting him short with another one of his statements of empathy.

"...and friends with one of our town's busiest whores. Nice friendship base."

"Look Dixon, you know the Colonel has been in undercover at the "Flight Deck" and she was merely using her association with Cindy Allison to get something to help you solve this damn..."

"Who?"

"Your victim Sheriff." Harm was irritated at having to explain Mac's actions towards the young girl to this cynical bastard. Sheriff Jack Dixon was like a person who smelled the sweet scent of a flower and immediately looked around for a damn coffin. Maybe it was this case? Maybe it was his job? Maybe it was just who he was?

"What the hell are you talking about Rabb. That girl's name is Cindy Jamisson. She's old Buck's daughter."

"What?" Harm had been half listening to the Sheriff, his mind still overrun with the thoughts of his stupidity and guilt for what he had done earlier. But the Sheriff's last statement as much as sting of Mac's hand across his face brought him to a reality that started to assault his perceptiveness. A knawing ache starting to spark in the pit of his stomach.

"Hell yea. Her old daddy is the one who probably beat her senseless tonight. I'd bet my pension on it." Dixon couldn't believe that this hotshot investigator didn't even know the players of a case he was running. A case that should have been his.

"Well, if you know that Jamisson did it, why the hell isn't he in custody?" The knawing continued to spark in the pit of his stomach as he waited for Dixon's response.

"Because she'll never press charges. Hell, she'll never even admit it was her Daddy that beat her. This isn't the first time and it won't be the last he's done something like this. We've been through this more times, than I care to count. Hell more times than I care to remember."

"Where's her mother?"

"Tracy? In Our Lady of Sorrows Cemetery. She hung herself. Let's see it must be 8 years back now. It was Cindy who found her and that little gal has never been right since. "

"Are you telling me that Buck Jamisson has his own daughter turning tricks for him?" The knawing had now turned into a smoldering fire in the pit of his stomach.

"Step-Daddy. Tracy married him after their Daddy was killed in a training accident on the base. He was Navy too Rabb. Not a high all mighty officer like yourself, but nevertheless Navy. Bobbi was raised in Christi, went to school here, got a duty assignment here, and died here. Damn shame, he was a good kid."

"You said "their daddy", does Jamisson have more than one daughter working the streets?" The knawing had now turned into an outright fire in the pit of his stomach.

"Nope. She's got a twin brother though. He's somewhere south of here I think. If you ask me that whole family is a little off. You know since Tracy's death Cindy has visited her grave everyday, carrying those damn yellow roses like they were some kind of an offering. Damn shame to be consumed like that. Damn shame."

The knawing that was growing in the pit of Harmon Rabb's stomach had combusted into a burning inferno of recognition and a fear riddled reality fed by the sudden indelible truth that Colonel Sarah Mackenzie was going to be the next victim. Not because of the false reality of her new profession, but because of the compassion uniquely Mac's towards a young girl tortured at the hands of her past.


THE FLIGHT DECK MOTEL
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
0530HRS (EST)


They approached with no siren or lights. The only light visible in the near dawn sky was a small glow that emanated from a single tattered lamp in the window of the shabby bungalow.

"Here take this. You may need it." Dixon grabbed his spare 9MM from the glove box of the police vehicle and pushed it towards Harm.

"Thanks." Harm exited the vehicle tucking the weapon in the back waistband of his uniform. Somehow he knew that a show of force this night was not what was going to save his partner, friend and the women he loved. It would take more than that. Much more.

Approaching the shabby bungalow carefully, Harm noticed the unearthly stillness, even the night creatures seeming to have retreat into the safety of the darkness. Stopping on the porch he peered into the small window by the slatted door, but saw no movement in the bungalow, or sounds of distress cutting the cloaking silence of the night. Maybe he was wrong? Maybe Mac wasn't in trouble? But the gut instincts he had learned to follow quickly resurfaced igniting again a dread that gripped him in a vise like hold.

"Sarah?" His knock was tenuous. His voice was low, barely a forced whisper, but steady filled with apprehension. "Sarah. It's me."

"Daddy? Is that you? Daddy?" The voice that drifted through the thin door was childlike, innocent, but held a chilling frightened hesitance. The frightened hesitance of a child looking for the approval that a parent could only give for an accomplished task. Like tying one's shoes, cleaning one's room, doing one's homework, and getting straight A's.

Harm carefully turned the knob on the door and heard the door creak open, the scene that was being played in the shabby room was not one that would elicit the loving praise of a peaceful joined family. He could feel the hatred; he could feel the despair and he could felt the burning fear that all but consumed him when he saw Mac's still naked body on the bed. Her wrists and ankles were bound to the bed and Cindy Jamisson hovered over her, the blade of a knife at Mac's throat glinting even in the darkened room. But it was the look in Cindy's eyes that made his blood run cold and strangle his heart as if it was caught in a tangle of barbed wire.

"You're not my Daddy! You belong to the whore! Get out! Get out!" Cindy's eyes darted between Harm and Sarah, causing her to strengthen her grip and press the knife deeper against Mac's already cut flesh.

"Cindy listen to me. Cindy? Cindy, don't hurt her. She's your friend. She helped you. Remember. Look at me Cindy. Look at me." Harm froze in fear as he saw the crazed look of a wounded animal glare back at him. He watched in fear, as she slid the honed blade of the hunting knife with conviction down Mac's throat and saw the trickle of blood ooze from her newly inflicted wound.

"No! She's gonna hurt my Daddy! She's a whore like all the rest! Just a whore!" Cindy Jamisson shifted unceremoniously and ground her knee harder against Mac's chest causing a gasping scream to escape through the cloth tied around Mac's mouth. The cloth preventing her cries to be more than moans that broke the dimness of her terror filled reality.

"No, Sarah wouldn't hurt him. She wouldn't hurt you. She'll tell you. Ask her Cindy. She's your friend. She cares about you. Ask her. She'll tell you just ask her."

"Get Jamisson here. Now!" Harm turned slightly to the deputy still keeping his attention on Mac. Afraid if he took his eyes away from her for one second she would be permanently taken from him. "Get him now!" Harm hissed at the Deputy turning his full attention back to the girl who held Mac's life at the end of the cold steel blade.

When Harm turned back, he noticed that Cindy had removed the cloth that she had placed in Mac's mouth. Mac was sputtering as she tried to clean the terry cloth fibers from her throat, but her lucidity appeared to be returning.

"Cindy...please. I wouldn't hurt your Daddy. I wouldn't hurt you. Please listen to me. I care about you. About him." Mac rasped the words out of the cloud that surrounded her.

"No! You're a whore just like all the rest! A whore! You'll hurt him. You'll hurt me! Well, I won't let you whore!" Cindy continued to increase her pressure against Mac, continuing to run the knife against her bare flesh.

"Cindy, let me come in there. We can talk about your daddy and how much he loves you." Harm moved slightly through the doorway, paralyzed when he heard the shrieking wail.

"No! Stay there! Stay there!"

"OK. OK Cindy, I'll stay here and we can talk." Harm stilled again as he watched the crazed young girl, increase her pressure and watched as another trickle of blood escaped from Mac's throat area. Harm bit his lip, as it watched it spill down Mac's arm. Each drop of her blood was as if it was his spilling from his heart uncontrollably.

"Cindy, let him come in here. Let him talk to you. He's my sailor you know that."

"No! You want my Daddy like all the rest. You just did him like any good whore would. You're a whore!" Cindy was getting more and more agitated and animated. She was losing control as her crazed animalistic gaze cut into Mac's soul as sure as the steel held murderously against her cold body.

"No. Cindy, listen to me! Listen! I love him. He's my Sailor. Remember. Cindy I love him. I have loved him from the beginning!" Mac couldn't look at Harm as she said the words. Words that had been held in her heart for so long, only being expressed to a confused young girl who was trying to kill her. God, I do love you Harmon Rabb and if this girl decides to end it all right here, I want you to know that. To know that you were always my world, even though I could never be yours. Mac was starting to drift again. She was losing her focus, the drugs invading her consciousness as they started to pull her back towards the blackness.

"No you're just a whore! You can't love anybody and they can't love you! He doesn't love you! No one can love people like us. We're not good enough for anybody to love us! Nobody can!" The girl was losing more control as she shook Mac violently in a death grip of total rage.

"Cindy, Cindy listen to me. I do love her, with all my heart! Cindy, please. Cindy, please listen to me. I always have. Please don't take her from me. I need her in my life. I need her. Please Cindy!" He couldn't keep his voice steady, as it cracked with sheer dread. Harm had heard Sarah Mackenzie's words, followed by his own. If the scene being played had been different, he would have laughed at the irony of the situation. Locked in his heart had been his love, his need and his desire for Sarah Mackenzie and the only one he could tell was a woman who held her life in her hands. He couldn't tell her. He couldn't tell himself. But he could tell Cindy Jamisson.

Mac tried to focus on her captor, but the haze was returning too rapidly. As she wrestled to stay conscious she felt the pressure on her chest ease.

"You love her?"

"God, yes with all my heart. I want her with me forever." Cindy Jamisson stood slowly and hesitantly moved towards Harm.

"I love my Daddy you know. And he loves my mom. He loves me, cause I was always good to him. I always did what he told me. I was always good. The rest were just whores to him, but they're all gone now. They're all gone. They won't hurt my Mom anymore."

"No!" Harm watched as Cindy Allison Jamisson, let go of Sarah Mackenzie and turned to face him, the look of childlike innocence on her bruised and beaten face. Within that same moment in time he watched her fall to the bed, a look of relief and peace in the eyes that locked on his for the briefest of moments and finally for the length of eternity.

The activity swirled around Sarah Mackenzie as she fought her way out of the haze. She heard Harm's anguished cry and she felt Cindy Allison's limp body on hers, the gunshot pin-balling through her mind as the warm liquid of life spilled on the cold lumpy and deflated mattress surrounding her.

Harm made it to Mac and lifted Cindy Allison's lifeless body carefully from her. He untied her and pulled the limp form of his Marine to him, covering her with his jacket and collapsing to the floor with her tightly in his arms. His breathing was labored, as he held her, trying to access her condition and trying to access his own. The blood covered her and his mind took him back to another place in time, to that dock in Norfolk, there had been so much blood there then too and she was dead.

"Mac... Oh God Mac...Please open you eyes...Please." Harm watched her eyes flutter open as she tried to focus on him. Relief washed over him as he pulled her tighter to him burying his lips in her hair. "Oh God, thank God."

"Is she all right Rabb?" Sheriff Dixon knelt by him true concern written on his haggard features.

"I think she's OK. Mac?" Harm fought the need to check Mac further as he didn't want to put any distance between them ever again.

"Harm...I...?" Mac tried desperately to focus on Harm's face, but all she felt was the safety of his arms and she just allowed herself to feel his warmth give her strength. His love? She felt her tears spill down her cheeks and she felt his cascading on the nape of her neck as he buried his head in her neck. "It's Ok, flyboy. I think...I'm...I'm...seriously considering a career change." Mac caressed his cheek tenderly, as her strength failed her again and she drifted into unconsciousness.

The level of activity around them increased in a surreal intensity, as the Paramedics, Sheriff Deputies, Coroners Teams, Forensic Teams started to arrive and break into Harmon Rabb's moment with his Marine. Pushing his guilt riddled mind back to what he had done, what he had said, how he had hurt her. He had come so close to losing her and their last memories would have been of the hateful and hurtful words between them. Words precipitated by his blind jealousy, fear of loving the strong Marine, fear of failing her, fear of the unrecognized desire he felt for her. His world was spinning around him at the thought of not having her ever in his life. Not only as a partner in life, not only as a friend for a lifetime, but as a woman he could love for eternity with the unbridled passion buried deep within his soul. A passion for only one. For Sarah Mackenzie.

"Let the EMTs take her, Commander. Let them take her." Dixon knelt by Harm's side and helped him slip his jacket on Mac's naked form. There was no resistance, there was no fight, and there was no recognition on the beautiful face. Regret crossed Dixon's face remembering the feisty Marine Colonel in his face at the Hospital. He was an ass sometimes, but he was an elected official and sometimes you had to do what you had to do. You had to take your time, get all the facts to protect the victim, the accused and ultimately yourself. This time he knew he had waited too long.

Harm watched as the Paramedics took his Marine from his arms, placing her on the awaiting gurney and administering what they could on site. He watched as she slipped between consciousness and unconsciousness, fighting both worlds. He stood back reluctantly, letting them work on her, knowing helping her now was out of his hands.

Distractedly his world shrouded with remorse, Harmon Rabb watched as the Coroner slipped Cindy Jamisson into the cold black body bag. His jaw tightened as he motioned them to stop before they engulfed her into the cold blackness. Looking into her still beautiful face, that not even the battering or the finality of death could hide, he held no anger for what she had tried to do to the woman he loved. Her actions were that of an anguished innocence, driven by the memories of her past, poisoned by the horrors of her present and fueled by the desperation of a future she couldn't escape from. She was the poisoned innocent of perverse human lust and depravity.

"We're ready to transport."

Harm took Mac's hand as he exited the bungalow with the Paramedics. If she let him, he knew he would never let her go again. He would somehow make her understand his weaknesses. He would make her understand his needs. He would make her understand the truth. He would love her for a lifetime if she let him, because for the first time in his life he knew what it meant to love with your soul and he wanted to experience what it was like to be truly loved by her. Only her for eternity. If she would let him.

Just as he was about to enter the ambulance, he noticed the car drive up. He saw the man exit, his stance defensive, his face void of emotion and what strength Harmon Rabb had left exploded into an unnatural all consuming rage.

"You son-of-bitch! You want to see what you have done. Look at her! Look at her! You took her youth, you took her body, you took her mind and she took her life when she couldn't stand what you turned her into. I could kill you! You sick bastard! I could kill you with my bare hands!" Harm couldn't let go of the death grip he had on Buck Jamisson consumed by an animalistic rage he forced him to look at his stepdaughter's lifeless body.

"Hey..."

It took Jack Dixon and half of the Sheriff's Deputies to pull the Commander off of Jamisson so consumed was he with the rage at what this despicable man had inflicted on his family. He was the devil incarnate and all he wanted to do was kill him. Only the Paramedic's shouts finally broke Harm's death grip on the older man. Seething with a rage he had never felt before, he backed off of the man shoving him to the floor of the bungalow that creaked with the force of the action.

"Sheriff...I want to press charges..." Buck Jamisson croaked the words out as he tried to regain his footing.

"My thoughts exactly. Cuff him." Jack Dixon motioned for his Deputy to cuff the cabaret owner, who was now sputtering threats and obscenities at the Sheriff.

Jack Dixon watched as the Ambulance left the "Flight Deck" parking lot it's siren and lights fighting the dawn of another day. As he pulled his patrol car behind the racing vehicle, Jack Dixon thought about retirement, his wife, his children, his grandchildren and what he would now change with the strength of God.


BLUE GHOST LANDING
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
1800HRS (EST)


It was the second day. Harm stood in the doorway of their adjoining rooms and watched as Mac slept peacefully. He didn't know how much longer he could be so close to her and yet keep his distance. Ever since her release from the hospital he had stood guard, living through her nightmares, comforting her as a friend would do and hoping she'd let him be much more. She was so strong and beautiful. He knew she was everything he wanted. Everything he would ever want and yet nothing had been said.

They hadn't talked about the events of those early morning hours. They hadn't talked about the words of love they had professed for each other to Cindy Jamisson. They hadn't talked about the hateful words they had said to each other on that darkened highway. They hadn't talked about her erratic behavior concerning this case. They hadn't really talked. There was no uncomfortable silence between them. There was just a comfortable stillness. Words that had to be spoken still left unsaid. Feelings that needed to be expressed still left unexplored.

Harm walked to the bed and sat hesitantly on the edge not wanting to disturb her, but not wanting to be away from her any longer. He felt her stir when he brushed a piece of hair from her face and felt her finger tips curl around his arm. He felt her touch ever so gentle, tighten as he breathed the scent that was so uniquely Mac. His hand lingered on her face, his fingers brushing her lips gently and reverently. He felt their warmth moistness and he just couldn't stand it any longer, his longing to taste her overcoming his rational mind that told him she needed time and space to deal with all that had happened. He had come so close to losing her, because of a young girl's past and because of his irrational jealousy. Harm bent and brushed his lips against hers, just a whisper of a kiss, just a hint of a taste of her. As he felt her stir against him again, he pulled back slowly noticing her tongue lick her lips sensually and her eyes flutter open.

"Hey." The word caught in Harm's throat, anticipating her reaction to what he had done. God, he needed more of her, so much more. It wasn't enough, nothing ever would be enough again when it came to Sarah Mackenzie.

"Hey yourself. What time is it?" Mac stretched lazily against him. The contact causing a slight gasp to escape her as the warmth of his body against hers started to spread through her. Had she felt his lips, or had she imagined it? Had she imagined his scent so close to her, teasing her? She tried to clear her head and smiled when she saw the credulous expression that crept across his face. God Harmon Rabb, how much I want you right now.

"Did I hear you correctly and ask me the time?" Harm whispered the words. Had she not felt his lips? Had she not felt the need in him? The slight touch of her body made him want to lean further against her, to calm the ache that started sending warmth through his all ready over sensitized body.

"With all the excitement I must have forgotten to wind my internal clock."

"Zulu, East Coast or Central Time?"

"Cute Flyboy. I'll settle for local time."

"1830."

"Why didn't you wake me? I've slept the whole day, actually I've slept for the last two days."

"You sure have, Marine and I think the only reason your up now is because you're probably hungry." Harm smiled his trademark grin, as he silently wished her hunger were for him.

"Ravenous." The smile that she had so missed made her weak, wishing he realized that the ravenous hunger she had at this very moment was only for him.

"Well, do you want to go out or we can call room service again if you're not up to it..."

"No. We can go out. I have been in this room for two days now and I'm starting to get cabin fever." Mac looked at Harm and saw the concern in his eyes bringing back the events of the last two days vividly into her mind.

"Doesn't say much for the company does it? Hey you OK?" He noticed the distant pensive look returning to Mac's dark eyes and knew she was back in that shabby motel room.

"I'm fine. It's just..."

"Just what? Mac?" Harm was starting to get concerned. It had been two days since she had been released from the hospital and most of it had been spent asleep, as if the state of sleep would help her to forget. The little time she had been awake she had bouts when her mind would just wander, as if she was in a different place a different time. And her answer was always the same. She was just fine. How many times had he heard that in the past? How many times had he heard that there was nothing wrong?

"Nothing. Nothing." Mac avoided Harm's gaze and focused on the curtains blowing in the sea breeze that floated through the open terrace doors.

"There's a steak house within walking distance down the beach. How does that sound?" If anything, Harmon Rabb had learned that pressing Sarah Mackenzie when she wasn't ready to talk was conversational suicide.

"A Steak House. And where are you going to eat?"

"Very funny. I'm sure they serve something other than animal flesh. Why don't you grab a shower and we'll go when you're ready." He watched Mac slip from the bed, sliding her leg against his when she stood. Harm found himself suppressing a groan elicited by the touch of her naked leg on his. Biting his lip he signed, as he walked to the terrace and braced himself on the railing overlooking the Texas Gulf. He didn't know how much more of this sexual tension he could take, but he knew they had a lot to talk about before his physical need for her could be satisfied.

It had been the worse and the best two days of his life. Thanks to Dixon, the civilian paperwork had been minimal, the statements being delayed till she was feeling better. Thanks to the Admiral, the Base Command and NCIS had been temporarily appeased. So they had been left in their own private world for the last two days to heal. Being alone with Mac so close to him and yet so far, had tested his self-restraint. Her nightmares had continued, though they had lessened in intensity thanks to the medication they had given her at the hospital. It was only during her bouts of fitful sleep that he had gotten to hold her and it took all his resolve to walk way when she quieted and fell asleep in his arms. Each time he held her in quiet comfort, his desire for her grew and it took all his strength to leave her alone, while he returned to his room to sleep it off with his fantasies his only company.


Mac stood in the shower under its soothing spray, once again attempting to let the water wash away the few memories of that night and the filth Buck Jamisson's pawing still left on her body. The memories that were just shattered bits and pieces floating in her mind were assaulting her waking hours and she knew it was time she start to deal with them. The only thing that kept her from crying out during her waking hours, were the words of love she had heard in that bungalow. She knew like always, he was giving her the space to deal with all that had happened maybe wanting to wait till they returned to Washington, to deal with the words they spat at each other on that Texas highway. Back to the real world, where they had become strangers. She still remembered so very little about that night, but she had heard his words of love and she wanted desperately to explore that love.


The restaurant was small but beautifully placed among the rocks on the Texas Shoreline. They were shown to a table that overlooked the endless expanse of ocean, the lights of the buildings sending twinkling sparks on the water complemented by the heaven's sparkling orbs above.

The dinner was excellent and both just enjoyed each other's company. It was almost like it was before he had left. Comfortable teasing conversations about past experiences, but with a sexual tension between them that a stranger would have instantly recognized. The ache for each other in their eyes, in their movements and in the teasing words they shared with one another.

Harm studied Mac carefully as the waiter brought their coffee. He knew she was gathering her strength to address that night, that night that Cindy Jamisson had held her captive in her innocence world of delusion, despair and death.

"Harm? I need to know. I need to know it all." It was time. She couldn't wait any longer. She needed to know the why's, how's and who's of a case that had touched her more than any other. That had made her deal again with memories of a past she had filed away with the other dark demons that would always be a part of Sarah Mackenzie.

"Mac, maybe we should just enjoy..." The acceptance of the truth had not come easily to him when Dixon had brought him up to date. What would it do to Mac?

"No it's time. I can't live in this world between worlds forever. Please tell me. Tell me all of it." As the waiter returned with the check, Mac locked her gaze on Harm's with an intensity that just said spill it Sailor.

"OK. OK. I know that look. Dixon has confirmed there is no doubt that Cindy killed the three women. Preliminary analyses of skin scrapings taken from under the victim's fingernails were identified as Cindy's during the autopsy. The knife she held on you and used to kill herself matched the wounds on all three victims."

"I can't believe it. But how? How could she move them, overpower them, move them to the base undetected? They were raped for God's sake! How could she have done that?" Mac's words came out in a torrent as she looked at Harm imploringly.

"Hers were not the only skin samples found that matched those from the victims. Apparently, the assumption they had been raped was just that, an assumption. Mac, they all had sexual intercourse within two hours of their deaths. It appears to have been consensual and it has been confirmed to have been with the same person." Harm studied her carefully, this was not the conversion he had wanted to have with her tonight, but he saw the stoic determination on her face and knew he had to continue.

"It was good old Buck wasn't it?" Mac's eyes were the color of coal at the memory of the perverse cabaret owner who had stripped a young girl of her dignity and soul.

"Yes. Apparently he was having relations with all three victims, on and off over the past 9 years. I'm sure they weren't the only ones and why Cindy snapped and focused on these three, no one will ever know and Buck isn't talking yet. I think there is more to it then we will ever know."

"Has he been charged?" Mac bit her lip as the memories of Cindy Jamisson started flooding back uncontrollably.

"Yes. Apparently, Cindy was a regular on the base so let's just say access was not difficult for her."

"Why did the Sheriff shoot her? Why was that necessary? Why, Harm? Why?" Mac felt a cold chill coarse through her body and then felt the warmth of Harm's hand as he took hers caressing it.

"Dixon shot her in the shoulder trying to stop her. But he couldn't. She stabbed herself Mac. She killed herself."

They sat in silence as Mac tried desperately to absorb all Harm had told her. All the events that came flooding back to her in a torrent of sudden dark understanding. For all the despair, the death, the pain and the memories this case had brought back to Sarah Mackenzie, it had also let her close another dark chapter from her past. The last demon was defeated and she would heal as she had done so many times before. But this time she knew she would have the love of Harmon Rabb to see her through it and she wasn't going to let this night end until they were honest with each other. No more hiding. No more pretending. If they could profess their love to a distraught young woman whose life had ripped the soul from her, they could profess their feelings to each other.

"Harm, I need to explain my less than professional behavior during his case." She looked at him trying to acknowledge the events she had kept hidden all these years.

"Mac what are you talking about? Anyone would have..." He held tighter on to her hand as he saw the determination on her face.

"No. I need to let it out. I need to acknowledge it was a part of my life. I need to tell you. When Chris and I were married, I lived in a booze induced haze day in and day out until Uncle Matt came and got me. We moved from town to town, lived from day to day, while he hustled the tourists in each town we stopped in. He gambled back then too, and when the money ran out he had me well...well do things." Mac paused, the memories too intense as she closed her eyes trying to regain the strength to continue. She focused on the eyes of her Sailor, expecting to see the worse, but all she saw was eyes filled with tears.

"Mac, you're not telling me he made you..." Harm felt his jaw tightened at the thought of Ragle, at the guilt he still felt for not being there for her that night when she turned to Farrow.

"No. It never got that far. But I did dance in a strip club in Flagstaff. A totally nude strip club. And well, when even that money ran out, he made me hold private sessions...and I couldn't...he wouldn't." Tears welled in her own eyes as she felt Harm's hand on her face.

"That was then this is now. That isn't who you are today. You're a beautiful, strong, successful, woman. A credit to yourself, your friends, the Marine Corps and to those that...that love you." Harm couldn't take his eyes from her, feeling her pain and knowing that if Ragle weren't already dead he would have killed him with his bare hands for putting his Marine through what he had.

"What would I do without you, Sailor?"

"I'm never going to give you the chance to find out, Marine."


Harm watched Mac straighten as they exited the restaurant. It had been hard on his Marine hearing all the details of that night, telling him what she had, but he knew that the strong Sarah Mackenzie was on her way back. Her strength amazed him, as his past and current relationships flashed through his mind causing him to sign audibly. What the hell was wrong with him? Why did he always end up with the mindless and the weak?

A shooting star shot across the sky just as they both looked up at the star studded clear Texas night sky.

"Make a wish, Marine."

"I don't need to wish for anything."

"Oh?"

"I'll have everything I need. Let's walk some of this food off, Sailor." Mac turned briefly and held his eyes before she started to walk back towards the beach.

"Oh, right I have to suffer. You add a few pounds of sand to that hourglass figure of yours and now you want to do night maneuvers?" Harm watched her turn again towards him and heard her laugh for the first time in days. Her eyes were amazing as the laughter and the lights from the shoreline appeared as tiny flecks of gold in her dark pools.

"Exactly." She took his offered hand in hers tightly as they walked out towards sea.

They walked in silence hand in hand coming into a quiet cove with a park nestled between the rocks of the shoreline. It was late, but a warm night breeze surrounded them as they sat on the small grassed area neither wanting the night to end, but both knowing there was still so much to say to each other.

Harm watched as Mac tugged the flimsy gauze skirt up around her thighs tucking it neatly and securing it under her, leaning back on her elbows as she stretched her long bare legs in front of her digging her feet in the cool grass. He watched as the moonlight cascaded on her face and her bare shoulders, giving her an almost surreal sensual aura. He groaned audibly and stood, walking a few feet from her focusing on the oil platforms that dotted the sea in front of him.

"You know they say that those guys stay on those platforms for six months at a time and that they are like little cities unto themselves."

"Oh no not again. Now are you going to tell me what they did there on News Year Eve, Sailor?" Even though that damn ferry ride went through her mind for the millionth time, she still couldn't suppress the smile that teased her lips.

"No, Mac I...I'm going to tell you what a stupid damn fool I was that night and that I didn't mean any of the things I said. I know you did what you did to find the killer. I know you didn't take pleasure in it. I just was jealous. I was so damn jealous. I was jealous of all those strangers. I was jealous of Dalton, Farrow and Chris. And I'm so damn jealous of that God Damn Australian. Anyone who has had the opportunity to be loved by you. Jealous of what they had and what I never did, because I was too afraid of telling you. Saying what I wanted and needed from you." Once Harm started, the words came spilling out and he was unable to stop them nor did he want to.

"Harm. I did take pleasure in what I did that night at least in the beginning." Mac knelt in the grass facing him as he spun around when he heard her answer. His confessions and her response shaking his composure.

"You what?" His eyes darkened as he tried to convince himself he hadn't heard her correctly.

"I enjoyed what I did during my first set and you want to know why?" Mac's voice was a horse whisper as she remembered the fantasies that played through her mind and at the thought that this night she was going to make them come true.

"Mac...I don't want to..." Harm's eyes flashed briefly with anger.

"I took great pleasure in it, because I was focused on you. I was stripping for you and only you. It was your hands I fantasized were touching me, were..." Mac's voice was breathless with pent-up emotions.

Harm didn't remember walking to her but he found himself kneeling facing her in the grass as he watched her slowly remove her blouse and toss it towards the shore. His clothes joining hers in the heat of a moment in time they had waited for as long as either could remember, satisfying themselves with mere surrogates in the past. He watched her stand in front of him as she removed her skirt and it too became just a memory. She stood before him naked except for the black panties that hid what he so wanted to taste and feel. His hands grabbed her waist as he slid the black silk down her legs savoring ever inch of her as their groans mixed with the waves crashing around them in the distance.

"You know you're beautiful. So beautiful." Harm pulled her down to him, his arms pulling her close as they still knelt facing each other, their naked bodies pulsing with desire against the feel of each other. The smoothness of her skin was like the finest silk against his fingers, as he continued a caressing trail of fiery touches down her throat and over her shoulders.

"Harm...Harm..." Mac whispered his name as she felt his hands on her bare skin leaving a trail of sparks in his wake. Mac leaned her head back as she felt his warm mouth trailing small kisses along her neck and shoulders whispering her name with every kiss with every breath. As he moved lower, she moaned winding her arms around him and letting his lips roam over her, gasping with every touch of his lips on her body and feeling his hard erection teasing her as it pressed against her center.

Harm found her lips in a bruising kiss of longing desire and pulled her body against his hungrily as he lowered them to the grass. His kiss grew harder more demanding, afraid he was hurting her, he moved back a bit. But when he heard her sensual growl of disapproval, he increased the intensity of his lips against hers again, feeling her part her lips asking for more of him, her tongue teasing and taunting his. He pushed against her with an aching desire, feeling her nipples harden and move teasingly against his chest. He didn't recognize the sensation as he just drank more of her.

Mac couldn't let go of him. His kiss pushing her to taste more of him, his muscular body heatedly grinding against her, sensitizing every nerve ending into an aching bundle of desire. She felt his hands cup her breasts, caressing her into a frenzy of need. She groaned in disappointment when his mouth left hers, only to scream in pleasure as he took her breast into his warm wet mouth as he sucked her nipple into a pulsing mass. Simultaneously she felt his hand circle down the length of her rubbing and caressing every inch of the naked flesh he touched. But when he reached his destination, the thread that held Sarah Mackenzie together started to unravel, as he parted her legs and she felt his fingers slide teasing along her swollen and aching lips. She bucked against his hand as he increased the pressure and entered her wetness.

"Oh God Mac, you feel so good...you taste so good...I can't get enough...I can't." The sheer pleasure he was eliciting in her stimulated him like he had never imagined was possible. The sweet taste of her assaulting him and all he knew is the more he touched and tasted the more he wanted and needed. Breathlessly he took her nipple back in his mouth, as she arched against him making him take more of her, his own groan vibrated through him as he felt her nipple pulse and grow further in his mouth. He sucked harder as her screams for more fueled her needs as much as his.

"Please...Harm...more...oh like that...oh please more." Mac's heart was racing as he was pushing her over the edge, her body starting to convulse against the probing and stoking of his fingers, now deep inside her. His mouth tugging, nipping and sucking her breast had started to move in a deliberate sexual rhythm with his hand that delved deeper and deeper, his thumb occasionally teasing her pulsing and aching clit.

"Harm! Please now! Please!"

He heard her screams his own pulsing erection telling him it was time to feel her surround him. He shifted and entered her surrounding himself with her sweet wetness. Harm screamed from the sheer pleasure of the feel of her pulsing against his own aching erection, and her clutching him tightly inside of her.

"Oh God, Mac that is incredible...it's...it's..." He felt her wrap her legs around him pushing him deeper inside her. He withdrew and entered again with such force he was afraid he would hurt her, but again she urged him deeper groaning with animalistic pleasure as she again stimulated him with her warmth, her wetness and her rhymic movements against him. Her moans and her counter movements against him and the memories of the taste of her, made him scream her name as he was flung over the edge spilling his seed deep inside her. His release longer then he had ever experienced.

"Oh...yes...that's so warm...it feels so good inside me..." She writhed uncontrollably pushing herself harder against him as she followed him screaming his name and feeling his mouth tugging on her nipple hungrily again. Her own release pushing her into frenzy like she had never felt.

"You are my dream, Marine." Harm smiled as he lay on his side and watched Mac lean contentedly against him.

"I better be your reality, flyboy." She smiled and brought him to her again, wanting more of him knowing she would never be able to get enough.


BLUE GHOST ALNDING
CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
0930HRS (EST)


He woke the next morning as he heard her in the shower a smile of satisfaction crossed his face as he remembered the night before. It hadn't ended in that grassy cove, their love making only increasing in intensity once they had returned to the privacy of their room. He groaned and stretched lazily as he remembered what a palace of pleasure her body was. What she had done to him when they had gotten back to the room, both exhausted but still both incredibly aroused. It had been her turn to pleasure him and that was exactly what she did with a fervor that still hung around him. Her scent everywhere surrounding him still in a mist of pleasure. He still felt her warm mouth take his erection, her rasping tongue stimulating him as she teased his tip moving him in and out of her mouth sensually and slowly, until only his screams of desire had made her stop and mount him.

"You're up." Mac stood in the doorway wrapped in a towel, the same small smile of satisfaction on her face.

"Not quite yet, but I'm sure if you would come and join me..." Harm's smile was infectious as she moved towards the bed feeling him grabbing at the towel around her.

"Get your six in the shower flyboy. We need to get moving." Mac bent and placed a kiss on his lips, moving away from him quickly as she felt his hands on her ass pulling her towards him. She smiled at the obvious sign of disapproval that escaped him as he stood and made his way to the bathroom, his arousal more than evident.

"Cruel, Marine. Damn cruel. You'll pay for this later."

"I'd better. I'm counting on that Navy."


Harm dressed and walked to the terrace, breakfast waiting for him. He bent and kissed her, enjoying her scent and the softness of her parted lips against his. This was something he could definitely get used to, holding on to the kiss as he felt the need in her, but pulling away knowing he didn't want to start something they couldn't finish right now.

"I was thinking. What about letting me be your personal pilot home? The Base Captain has a Tomcat that needs to go north. What do you think Marine? It would get us home faster and give us more time to..." Harm saw the incredulous expression that crossed her face, a hint of his desire in her dark eyes.

"No offense, flyboy, but I think I'll stay commercial. If I correctly remember I have ridden with you twice. Once I was so sick with you playing with your toy that I couldn't eat for two days and the second time we were shot down! I'm not pushing my luck!"

"Well, I guess commercial it is then though you wound me, Colonel." He watched her eyes darken as she looked out at the ocean before them.

"What is it?" Harm took her hand and kissed her palm as he waited for her response concerned at her sudden darkened mood.

"I spoke to Dixon while you were in the shower. They have made arrangements to bury Cindy today. I want to be there Harm."

"Mac..."

"We could finish with NCIS and the Sheriff this morning then I could drop you at the base to catch your ride. Gunny has booked me on an afternoon flight and I'll be home before you know it." Mac looked at Harm pleadingly.

"Oh, no. I'm not leaving you to do this alone."

"Please Harm I need to do this for me...and for Cindy. I need to do this alone."


CORPUS CHRISTI NAVAL STATION
FLOUR BLUFF, TEXAS
1300HRS (EST)


They finished the mounds of paperwork and gave their statements to the